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2010年6月大学英语四级真题
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
When we think of green buildings, we tend to think of new ones – the kind of high-tech, solar-paneled masterpieces that make the covers of architecture magazines. But the U.S. has more than 100 million existing homes, and it would be 47. G） incredibly wasteful to tear them all down and 48. K） replace them with greener versions. An enormous amount of energy and resources went into the construction of those houses. And it would take an average of 65 years for the 49. J） reduced carbon emissions from a new energy-efficient home to make up for the resources lost by destroying an old one. So in the broadest 50. L） sense, the greenest home is the one that has already been built. But at the same time, nearly half of U. S. carbon emissions come from heating, cooling and 51. H） powering our homes, offices and other buildings. \can't deal with climate change without dealing with existing buildings,\says Richard Moe, the president of the National Trust. With some 52. D） exceptions, the oldest homes tend to be the least energy-efficient. Houses built before 1939 use about 50% more energy per square foot than those built after 2000, mainly due to the tiny cracks and gaps that 53. E） expand over time and let in more outside air. Fortunately, there are a 54. O） vast number of relatively simple changes that can green older homes, from 55. F） historic ones like Lincoln's Cottage to your own postwar home. And efficiency upgrades (升级) can save more than just the earth; they can help 56. I） protect property owners from rising power costs.
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 A) accommodations B) clumsy C) doubtful D) exceptions E) expand F) historic G) incredibly H) powering I) protect J) reduced K) replace L) sense M) shifted N) supplying O) vast
2011年6月大学英语四级真题
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
The popular notion that older people need less sleep than younger adults is a myth, scientists said yesterday. While elderly people 47 N） tend to sleep for fewer hours than they did when they were younger, this has a(n) 48 L） negative effect on their brain's performance and they would benefit from getting more, according to research.
Sean Drummond, a. psychiatrist (心理医生) at the University of California, San Diego, said older 精品文档
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people are more likely to suffer from broken sleep, while younger people are better at sleeping 49 H） efficiently straight through the night. More sleep in old age, however, is 50 B） associated with better health, and most older people would feel better and more 51 A） alert if they slept for longer periods, he said. “The ability to sleep in one chunk (整块时间) overnight goes down as we age but the amount of sleep we need to 52 J） function well does not change,” Dr Drummond told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego. “It's 53 F） definitely a myth that older people need less sleep. The more healthy an older adult is, the more they sleep like they did when they were 54 O） younger. Our data suggests that older adults would benefit from 55 E） continuing to get as much sleep as they did in their 30s. That's 56 G） different from person to person, but the amount of sleep we had at 35 is probably the same amount as we need at 75.”
注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 A) alert I) formally B) associated J) function C) attracting K) mixed D) cling L) negative E) continuing M) sufficient F) definitely N) tend G) different O) younger
47. tend to 固定搭配；表示“倾向于；”符合句意；
48. 空格后是effect， 前面是a(n)， 由此可见，该处需要填入一个形容词；题目给出的形容词有negative, sufficient, younger；根据前后语意，填入negative最为恰当，表示“少的睡眠时间对大脑的活动有负面的影响。”
49. 根据推测，该处应该填入一个副词，题目给出的副词有efficiently, definitely, formally；前面提到，老年人在睡觉的时候更容易被打断，而后面用while提出一个对比的概念，年轻人相比起来能获得更_______ 的睡眠；综合起来，选用efficiently（最有效率的）最为准确。 50. be associated with 固定搭配；表示“与…联系在一起”；本句话表示“更多的睡眠通常都与健康度联系在一起”； 51. 先看整句话的含义，“如果他们能睡更长的时间，他们的感觉应该会更好以及…”那么，该处应该填入一个褒义词，选择alert比较恰当，表示“更加警觉，机灵”；
52. 根据判断，此处应该填入一个动词，剩下的动词有cling, function；整句话的意思是“当我们上了年纪的时候，我们一觉睡到天亮的能力下降了，但是，我们需要…的睡眠量并没有改变；”空格后的单词是well， cling 在这里并不合适，一般与to连用；选用function 最为适合；
53. 作者在首段已经提出这个观点是一个myth，那么显而易见最后一段中出现的myth是作为一种强调手段，应填入definitely；
54. 空格的前面是 when they were…， “当他们年轻的时候”；应填入younger； 55. 本句的意思是“我们的数据显示老年人将从…获益；”空格的后面是“得到和他们在三十多岁的时候能得到的睡眠一样多”；根据上下文意思，该处应填入“continuing”； 56. different from 固定搭配；表示“和…不同”； 精品文档
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2010年12月大学英语四级真题
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
What determines the kind of person you are? What factors make you more or less bold, intelligent, or able to read a map? All of these are influenced by the interaction of your genes and the environment in which you were 47. M) raised . The study of how genes and environment interact to influence 48. L) psychological activity is known as behavioral genetics. Behavioral genetics has made important 49. E) contributions to the biological revolution, providing information about the extent to which biology influences mind, brain and behavior. Any research that suggests that 50. A) abilities to perform certain behaviors are based in biology is controversial. Who wants to be told that there are limitations to what you can 51. B) achieve based on something that is beyond your control, such as your genes? It is easy to accept that genes control physical characteristics such as sex, race and eye color. But can genes also determine whether people will get divorced, how 52. N) smart they are, or what career they are likely to choose? A concern of psychological scientists is the 53. I) extent to which all of these characteristics are influenced by nature and nurture(养育), by genetic makeup and the environment. Increasingly, science 54. J) indicates that genes lay the groundwork for many human traits. From this perspective, people are born 55. G) essentially like undeveloped photographs: The image is already captured, but the way it 56. H) eventually appears can vary based on the development process. However, the basic picture is there from the beginning. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。 [A] abilities [I] extent [B] achieve [J] indicates [C] appeal [K] proceeds [D] complaints [L] psychological [E] contributions [M] raised [F] displayed [N] smart [G] essentially [O] standard [H] eventually
47. raise在这里的意思是“养育”，the environment in which you were raised 意思是“你成长的环境”。
48. \意思是“心理活动”，全句意思是“研究基因和外部环境如何相互作用影响人心理活动的学科被称为行为遗传学”。
49. “make contributions to”为固定搭配，意为“为……做贡献”。 50. “ability to …”意思是“做某事的能力”，在此处，全句意思是“任何一篇宣称人类做出某种行为的能力是基于生物学的研究都是有争议的”。
51. \意思是“对你所能达到的水平的限制”。
52. 此处需填一个形容词，而且用来形容人，根据题意，smart符合题意，表示“机灵，可爱”。
53. 此处填extent，主要是因为后面有to，“to the extent …”译为“……的程度”。 54. indicate 意思是“表明，显示”。全句意为“越来越多的科学(现象)表明基因对人类很多特征有基础作用”。
55. essentially 的意思是“实际上，本质上”。全句意为“从这个角度来讲，人一出生，本质上就像是还没洗出来的照片：相已经照了，但是最终会呈现多少就在于显影的过程了”。 56. eventually 副词，意思是“最终，最后”。 精品文档
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2011年12月大学英语四级真题 Passage One
Boys' schools are the perfect place to teach young men to express their emotions and are more likely to get involved in activities such as art, dance and music, according to research released today.
Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity in which students either sink or swim, the absence of girls gives boys the chance to develop without pressure to conform to a stereotype, the US study says.
Boys at single sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their emotional expressiveness, rather than feeling they had to conform to the \
The findings of the study go against received wisdom that boys do better when taught alongside girls.
Tony Little, headmaster of Eton, warned that boys were being failed by the British education system because it had become too focused on girls. He criticized teachers for failing to recognize that boys are actually more emotional than girls.
The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become discouraged when their female peers do better earlier in speaking and reading skills.
But in single-sex schools teachers can tailor lessons to boys' learning style, letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom, wrote the study's author, Abigail James, of the University of Virginia.
Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with specifically \approaches such as themes and characters that appeal to them. Because boys generally have more acute vision, learn best through touch, and are physically more active, they need to be given \classical music as feminine and prefer the modern genre in which violence and sexism are major themes,\
Single-sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to conform to a stereotype that men should be \feel compelled to act like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means,\
57. The author believes that a single-sex school would _____________________.
A force boys to hide their emotions to be “real man” B help to cultivate masculine aggressiveness in boys C encourage boys to express their emotions more freely D naturally reinforce in boys that traditional image of a man
58. It is commonly believed that in a mixed schools boys ____________________. A perform relatively better B grow up more healthily C behave more responsibly D receive a better education
59. What does Tony Little say about the British education system?
A It fails more boys than girls academically B It focuses more on mixed school education C It fails to give boys the attention they need D It places more pressure on boys than on girls
60. According to Abigail James, one of the advantages of single-sex schools is ______________. 精品文档
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A teaching can be tailored to suit the characteristics of boys B boys can focus on their lessons without being distracted C boys can choose to learn whatever they are interested in D teaching can be designed to promote boys’ team spirit
61. Which of the following is characteristic of boys according to Abigail James’ report? A They enjoy being in charge B They conform to stereotypes C They have sharper vision D They are violent and sexist Section B Passage One
57, C encourage boys to express their emotions freely 58, A perform relatively better
59, C It fails to give boys the attention they need
60, A teaching can be tailored to suit the characteristics of boys 61, C They have sharper vision
【解析】这篇文章针对传统的男女生一起上学，一起接受教育提出了质疑。作者从文章一开头就表明了自己的看法：对于男生而言，单性教育，即男生们一起上学会对男生的身心发展更为有利。文中出现一个短语，received wisdom，即是“人们普遍的看法，公认的看法”。也是作者所批判的一种观点。传统观点认为，男生和女生混合教育会对男生发展更有利。 但是作者认为单性教育对男生有以下几个好处：可以让男生们更自由地表达自己的情感，可以学习自己感兴趣的艺术，舞蹈，音乐等学科。不用去遵守人们在传统印象中对男生的期盼。而且单性教育可以针对男生的身心发展特点而制定学习计划。
并且作者觉得，目前英国教育把女生当做关注重点，忽视了对男生的重视。 2011年12月大学英语四级真题 Passage Two
It's an annual argument. Do we or do we not go on holiday? My partner says no because the boiler could go, or the roof fall off, and we have no savings to save us. I say that you only live once and we work hard and what's the point if you can't go on holiday. The joy of a recession means no argument next year – we just won't go.
Since money is known to be one of the things most likely to bring a relationship to its knees, we should be grateful. For many families the recession means more than not booking a holiday. A YouGov poll of 2,000 people found 22% said they were arguing more with their partners because of concerns about money. What's less clear is whether divorce and separation rates rise in a recession – financial pressures mean couples argue more but make splitting up less affordable. A recent research shows arguments about money were especially damaging to couples. Disputes were characterized by intense verbal aggression, tended to be repeated and not resolved, and made men, more than women, extremely angry.
Kim Stephenson, an occupational psychologist, believes money is such a big deal because of what it symbolizes, which may be different things to men and women. \about money but have different conceptions of what it is for,\save, to spend, for security, for freedom, to show someone you love them\likely to see money as a way of buying status and of showing their parents that they've achieved something.
\biggest problem is that couples assume each other knows what is going on with their finances, but they don't. There seems to be more of a taboo about talking about money than 精品文档
最新大学英语四级真题部分阅读答案及解析
